Community Health
MSc (PGCert PGDip)
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Course summary and entry requirements
Course duration
Full-time: 1 year
Part-time: 3 years
Professional accreditation
These courses lead to an academic award of either a Post Graduate Diploma or Masters only and support students and practitioners continuing professional development. These courses do not lead to a professional award, registration or employment directly. There are also no requirements for practice placements, but please note, some optional modules may require students to apply their learning to a practice setting so they will need to check the assessments if they are not already employed in a relevant health or social care setting.
Claims for the Accreditation of Prior (Experiential) Learning (APeL) will be considered. As is normal in the Graduate Programme, this will differentiate between different levels i.e. a maximum APeL of 90 Level 7 credits for a Masters, 60 Level 7 credits for a PG Dip, 30 Level 7 credits for a PG Cert.
About the course
These courses respond to the rapidly changing context in the community health and social care sectors in the UK. The increasing shift of care from acute hospitals to community settings and the radical changes envisaged in the Health and Social Care Act 2012 means future practitioners will need to lead, manage and promote community health in increasingly complex and challenging environments.
These courses aim to meet the needs of those intending to, or already working in a range of community health settings and who wish to undertake Masters level study and who wish to develop an operational or strategic role in community health, or specialise in a particular area of practice, or develop their education or management knowledge and skills in relation to community health.
The courses are especially suitable for qualified community nurses, midwives, paramedics and allied health professions, and community based health practitioners working in the third sector in community or voluntary organisations.
Typical entry requirements
Individual offers may vary.
For non-native speakers of English:
IELTS 6.5 overall and 6.0 in writing, or equivalent.Students with lower scores can enter through our extended masters programme. More information can be found here - http://www.brighton.ac.uk/gphss.
Degree and/or experience:
Applicants should normally possess:
- a good honours degree (normally first or 2:1) from a UK educational institution or equivalent recognised award from an overseas institution
- recent professional qualifications and relevant experience, normally recognised registration or recordable qualification
- directly relevant experience which will normally mean work that is recent (within the last five years), and has been based in health or social care, or engaged in community health-related, or voluntary sector settings. Applicants will need to demonstrate an ability to study and write at level 7.
- a clear rationale and interest for personal and professional development in community health, and a commitment to masters level study.Claims for the Accreditation of Prior (Experiential) Learning (APeL) will be considered.
Students with disabilities are welcome and will have their needs addressed and reasonable adjustments made in accordance with the requirements of the Equalities Act and in accordance with University policy and practice.
If you are unable to meet the above requirements, you may be able to register for a standalone module. Students who are successful studying one module and are awarded credits may then be eligible, after consultation with the course leader, to enrol for further modules and the course.
For equivalent international qualifications
We can help you meet our English language entry requirements
For help meeting English language requirements contact our
Language Institute.We can help you meet our academic entry requirements
For help meeting academic entry requirements contact our
International College.If you cannot find your country listed, please email admissions@brighton.ac.uk
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Course content
Course structure
The courses are mainly based at Falmer but particular modules are run on other sites. The courses start each year in October. The courses can be studied either full or part-time. Studying full-time normally means completing the course within one year and part-time, normally completing studies within three years.
Modules are delivered at different times throughout the year. Most modules run intensively, where you will be expected to attend for one week, or in a combination of 5 days in total; some modules run extensively, where you will be expected to attend once a week for example, up to three hours, for a semester.
Modules are delivered at Falmer but also run on different campuses and also online. Other modules use action learning sets and problem based learning and work based learning methods and assessment.
Areas of study
The course aims to develop a critical understanding of the complexity and dynamic nature of community health processes, politics and policy, and relate this to developing and changing roles in health care delivery in the community. Students take two mandatory modules `Collaboration in Community Health', and `Culture, Community Health and Well-being, plus a range of other modules chosen from existing provision in the Graduate School to support developing roles or interests in community health. These can include a range of specialist clinical areas or modules relevant education and management.
If students chose the `and education' route, they will be expected to demonstrate stronger critical understanding, knowledge and skills of the communication, enablement and ethical values of community health competencies, as well as aspects of educational theory and student learning and teaching techniques relevant to their practice.
For the `and management' route, students would be expected to demonstrate stronger critical understanding, knowledge and skills of the leadership, planning, implementation, evaluation and mediation of community health, as well as aspects of managerial practice of particular interest to the individual student. This could include commissioning of services, clinical governance and its application to service delivery, public policy implementation and delivery of key concepts in change management, managing people and strategy planning.
Syllabus
Students can choose to study for either the post-graduate diploma or MSc award. The PG Diploma is made up of six 20 credit modules and the MSc is made up of six 20 credit modules plus a dissertation.
In light of the new Health and Social Care Act 2012 and reorganisation of the NHS and commissioning structures, these modules aim to support students interested in, or already working in community health, who wish to address inequalities, promote social justice and positively transform health and social care.
Two mandatory modules specific to these courses include:
1) Collaboration in Community Health, which aims to enable students to develop a theoretical understanding of collaborative working in community health and to be able to critically practice and evaluate collaboration in community health settings.
And
2) Culture, Community Health and Well-being, which aims to develop students ability to critically reflect on experience, knowledge and evidence relevant to community health and wellbeing and enable students to understand how health knowledge, related practices and health behaviour are shaped by the cultural contexts in which they occur.
Core modules
Collaboration in Community Health
Culture, Community Health and Well-being
One research module selected from the GPHSS
Dissertation (MSc award only).
Options Examples include:
A critical approach to practising public health
A critical approach to capacity building for early interventions
Enhancing practice in safeguarding children in practice
Advanced mental health assessment
Advanced management of heart failure OR Advanced Respiratory care
Case management in health and social care
Critical analysis in decision-making
Contemporary issues in the health and well-being of older people
Managing change
Leadership, roles and responsibilities
Strategy & planning in the public and voluntary sectorDeveloping expertise in learning, teaching and assessment AND Design planning and strategic working in education. NB: These modules require you to be working for a minimum of 15 hours in practice and can only be taken part time.
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Fees and costs
The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2013-14. Further tuition fees are payable for each subsequent year of study and may be subject to small increases, in line with inflation.
The tuition fee you have to pay depends on a number of factors including the kind of course you take, and whether you study full- or part-time. If you are studying part-time you will normally be charged on a pro rata basis depending on the number of modules you take.
What's included in the fee?
When costs such as health or criminal record checks, field trips or use of specialist materials are incurred as a mandatory requirement of the course they are included in your tuition fee.
You may incur additional costs depending on the optional modules or activities you choose. The cost of optional activities is not included in your tuition fee and you will need to meet this cost in addition to your fees. Before you apply please check with the school that provides your course using the contact details on the left of this page for advice about what is included and what optional costs you could face so you can budget accordingly.
Our website www.brighton.ac.uk/money provides advice about funding and scholarships as well as further information about fees and advice on international and island fee paying status.
Community Health (MSc) (Full time) [L3BH025] UK/EU (Full Time) 6,390 GBP Island Students (Full Time) 8,100 GBP International (Full Time) 11,500 GBP -
Location
Location
Falmer Our Falmer campus is located on the edge of the South Downs National Park on the outskirts of Brighton. Approximately 7,000 students are based here.
View campus maps and directions
Living in Brighton
Brighton’s rich mix of historic architecture, lively arts scene, varied shopping and cosmopolitan community make it a vibrant, enjoyable place to live. It is no wonder that many Brighton graduates choose to stay here.
Social scene
Alongside the traditional seaside attractions, Brighton is famed for its exciting social scene with a wide choice of pubs, clubs and restaurants.
Arts
The highlight of the city’s cultural year is the Brighton Festival. The event is held each May and is England’s biggest arts festival, which showcases arts and performance from around the world. Brighton is also home to the UK’s oldest working cinema, the Duke of York’s, which shows alternative and mainstream films. The city is also well known for its exciting music scene and hosts The Great Escape music festival.
Sports
Whether you take your sport seriously or just want to keep fit, Brighton offers all kinds of sports opportunities and facilities, on and off campus. You can also make the most of the location, and play volleyball, basketball and windsurfing down by the beach. The seafront is also the finishing point for the famous London – Brighton bicycle ride and the quirky veteran car run.
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Career opportunities
By the end of the course students will have a critical understanding of the economic, political and ethical factors influencing delivery of contemporary heath care in the community and the principles underpinning collaborative working, together with a critical understanding of the enablers and tensions in service delivery in community health and be able to apply this knowledge to enhance service development within their organisation or in their current or intended role or work setting.
Graduate Programme in Health and Social Sciences
This course is part of our Graduate Programme in Health and Social Sciences. The programme allows you to sign up for one module at a time and build your qualification as you go. It also gives you access to a range of interdisciplinary modules across a broad selection of health and social science subjects. Find out more